Feel Good Family Moment
by Bloodtoast
Summary: Casey had enough with waiting. Her ‘feel good family moment’ was going to happen, whether Derek liked it or not. Too bad Derek doesn’t consider Casey as ‘family’. Oneshot. Dasey obviously.


**Feel Good Family Moment**

* * *

He didn't know when Casey had become increasingly jumpy and anxious. Maybe it was around the time they got their college acceptance letters. Ever since then she had been a hell of a lot _nicer_ to Derek.

And he did not like it.

Every time he tried poking fun at her, she'd laugh along with him. What was the fun in that, if he didn't get a rise out of her?

And every time he did one thing for her – like pass her the remote when his hockey game finished – she'd smile as sweetly as she could at him, and say, "Aw, Derek, you're such a kind and heartfelt brother," then she'd get this contemplating look on her face. After she'd say this, Derek would storm away angrily. He was _not _her brother, and he never would be.

He had taken it up to lock himself in his bedroom whenever she got that "contemplating look" on her face. That "look" infuriated him, for no reason other then the fact that he knew she was thinking of something he wouldn't like.

He ran a hand roughly through his hair. And it was all her fault that he was up here, in his room, strumming roughly on his guitar while thinking about her.

And in her desperation to act more _nicely _towards himself, she had only succeeded in aggravating, annoying and frustrating him. He was so on edge around her now that he didn't know how to act. Her personality 360 had made him wonder if he was supposed to act nice right back at her.

But Derek Venturi didn't do nice. Not to Casey, anyway.

He ran a finger roughly over the sheet music of the new D-Rock song, forming his fingers onto the strings to hit the right notes. For a moment, he lost himself in the melody coming from his guitar.

That is, until he hit the wrong note. Usually he didn't care. It was a mistake, and he was not a good guitar player, so it was normal. But something just snapped, and he wanted to smash his guitar against his wall. But guitars were expensive, and he wasn't idiotic enough to smash one. So instead he threw it roughly on the floor and curled up onto his bed.

Casey's personality change was affecting him far more then she could ever suspect.

* * *

The next morning, he awoke to the smell of pancakes, and his mouth started salivating despite himself. Just one whiff at the aroma and he could tell it was _chocolate chip _pancakes.

He sat up abruptly and flung the blankets off his body. He was about to make a bee-line for the kitchen when he heard someone gasp.

Derek peered over at the source of the noise, only to have his brown eyes meet big, blue ones.

"Good morning!"

"Ugh!" he yelled, throwing his head under a pillow. His body tensed when he felt the bed dip under her weight. For a long time, they sat there in silence, Derek just wishing she would disappear while Casey waited for him to come out from under the pillow.

Finally, she placed a hand on his back and patted it gently.

"I made you pancakes," she said. He could practically _hear _the sweet smile those words passed through.

"I don't want 'em," he replied stiffly.

"They're chocolate chip."

"_Nooo,_" he moaned, tightening his grip on the pillow, "Don't tempt me." Now he _had _to refuse the pancakes. Accepting them would signal his acceptance of this new, nicer Casey. The Casey that did random _nice _things for him.

"Alright," Casey sighed. The bed creaked when she lifted herself off of it, and he immediately relaxed. "I'll leave them on your desk."

When she left his room, he immediately flipped over and ate the pancakes. She would never know, and he was hungry.

* * *

It was after hockey practise, and a very sweaty, disgruntled Derek limped out of the change room, his hair sticking to his forehead. He had taken a major beating and had fallen on his leg _hard_.

He leaned up against the wall, waiting for George to join him and take him home. Instead, Casey's face popped up from the other side of the wall, causing him to jump.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded.

"I offered to pick you up," Casey replied simply. She reached into her purse and pulled out a perfume bottle with frost stuck to the edges. He was about to ask her what she was doing, when she started spraying it at Derek's head and neck.

"What, _what are you doing?_" he asked, dodging the spray of water.

"It's ice cold water. It'll make you feel better and less sweaty. I also added a drop of Axe so it leaves a nice scent behind." His lips twisted in thought as she waited, perfume bottle raised. He really had no argument to use against her. Not even the fact that he would smile like a girl, since she had used Axe.

"Fine," he spat. He reluctantly let her spray on the concoction as he walked outside to the parking lot.

When they got home, Casey took his hockey bag, dropped it on the floor and shoved him down into his chair.

"I see you're walking with a limp, Derek. You should keep it elevated," she paused to fix a pillow under his ankle. "Tonight I'll massage it for you. I know thirty-one different techniques that'll –,"

"Stop! Just. Stop," he sighed, raising his hands to silence her rant. She fixed him with a quizzical look, than nodded her head understandingly.

"Right, you're probably hungry. I'll go make you a BLT. That's your favourite, right?"

"Gah!" Derek yelled, throwing the pillow back onto the couch and storming up to his room.

* * *

He had successfully avoided her after that, until Nora handed him an 'important' telephone message from Emily and asked him to bring it up to Casey. He wanted to decline, but since Nora was in such a hurry to meet a client, he couldn't. Lizzie, Edwin, Marti and George were out at the movies, so he couldn't get one of them to do it.

Slowly, he started to climb the stairs, ready to head into the lions den.

He didn't bother knocking. He turned the handle, shoved open the door and dropped the piece of paper on her desk, not sparing her a glance.

On his way out the door, he heard her sniffling and she was frantically rubbing tears off of her face. Despite his better judgement to get out of there as fast as possible, he slowed down his steps and stared at her.

"Uh… Emily left a message for you," he said quietly, pointing over his shoulder at the piece of paper he had dropped off. As he gripped the side of her bedroom door, she smiled.

_Here it comes_, he thought.

"Thank you, Derek, you're a great brother." His grip tightened on the door. Her voice was so weak, and full of pain, that he had to suck in a deep breath. It was against his instincts to ask, but he felt compelled to. He needed to find out what was up with her.

"Alright Casey," he said, slamming her bedroom door shut and plopping down on her bed. "What's wrong? Why aren't you acting like, well, _you_?"

Casey's eyebrows furrowed slightly, and she glanced down at the paper she had been reading. She shrugged her shoulders limply and tossed the paper aside. Derek briefly caught sight of the heading, 'McGILL', before he looked back at her. Why had she been crying over her acceptance into McGill University?

"It's not like you actually care," she said. He almost wanted to smile at the return of her rude, sassy voice.

"I do… now. You've been acting so strangely that I kinda… _miss… _the old Casey," Derek replied. Casey's eyes met Derek's, and her mouth pinched shut.

"I guess I'm afraid… sort of."

"Why?" Derek asked. She looked away and sucked in a deep breath.

"I'm afraid to go to McGill's."

"Why?" This time Derek's voice was confused. "What does that have to do with your personality change?"

She looked up at him, and Derek's stomach dropped when he _saw _the fear there.

"I'm scared to leave my mom, Lizzie… all of this. I'll be all the way in Montreal… I won't be home a lot. And then… you got accepted into Cumberland, and that's all the way in Saskatchewan. And…" her voice trailed off, and she almost looked bashful.

"And what? What's wrong with that?" Derek pressed.

"I don't know. Just the fact that we won't see each other anymore. I mean, this will probably be the last time we'll be under the same roof permanently. After college I'll probably get a house in Toronto or something, and you, God, I don't know what you're –,"

"Casey," Derek sighed, putting a hand gently on her arm. The realization of her words hurt him, but he couldn't let her know that. "This all has to do with your personality change how?"

"Remember when you chased away Scott? And I said that we'd have a feel good family moment? I'm thinking that it's now or never, and I just want to have assurance that we both don't mind the other and –,"

"Casey!" Derek interrupted. She looked up at him, and he was smiling down at her. "So you were annoying me for a _hug_?"

She smiled back at him. "I was annoying you?"

"More then usual, yes," Derek admitted. Casey sighed, but Derek wasn't finished talking. "But I'm not your family."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not. 'Family' can only be blood relation," Derek replied, rolling his eyes.

"Don't roll your eyes like you know everything. What about people who get married? Are they not family, and they aren't blood related."

"But we're not married, so we're not family."

"Yes, I'm trying to prove that people who aren't related by blood can be family."

"But I don't consider you as family."

"But you're my stepbrother! You're practically my brother."

"I'm _not _you're brother!" Derek jumped to his feet and made his way over to the door.

"I know. Like I always say, thank God there's no blood relation."

"Look! You just said it! No blood relation means we're not family!"

"Can you just stop saying that?" Casey snorted, chasing Derek out into the hallway. He swung around to face her.

"Saying what?"

"That we're not family. If we're not family that means we can't have a feel good family moment, and if –,"

"We will **never **have a feel good family moment. You want to know why?" Derek yelled. Casey crossed her arms.

"Because only 'family' can have feel good family moments, and I am not your brother!" He grabbed her firmly by the shoulders and shoved her up against the wall. A gasp managed to escape her mouth right before his lips met hers.

A spark flew, and Casey sighed into the kiss, her eyes fluttering shut from the intensity of his burning lips on hers. Okay, maybe he was right because family members don't kiss… and even if they did, she doubted they kissed with this much passion and energy and enthusiasm and…

_Just shut-up, _she scolded. Her arms tightened around Derek's biceps and his hands were gripping her wrists as he leaned into her. He pulled back only when he heard stomping around downstairs. When had the door opened?

Derek was amazed that he had forgotten to breathe during their small little kiss. Panting and in a raspy voice he managed to choke out, "Wasn't that better then a feel good family moment?"

Casey was nodding her head over and over again, a frazzled expression on her features. Her cheeks were slightly tinged with pink, and her hair had somehow managed to get dishevelled. The door downstairs opened and closed – Nora probably forgot something – and Derek was about to turn and leave when Casey grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him against her, her lips finding his again.

Damn, if this would've satisfied Casey's need for a 'feel good family moment', Derek would have started kissing long time ago.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

* * *

**Yes, yes, I will update To Charlottetown soon. I've just been a little busy with my ISU's -- especially my French one—and I don't have as much time to write, and this story has just been dying to come out for the longest time.**

**Anyways, don't forget to Review! Now, look deeply into my eyes. Yes, now you will forget all other things and will immediately click the purple button and will type out a nice, long review expressing your feelings for this story. When I say fish you will remember nothing….**

**FISH!!**

**Heheh, kidding.**

**-Waits to see if hypnosis worked-**


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